US - Iran Crisis: How We're Protecting the Community

January 9, 2020

We're pushing back against escalations that may lead to a war with Iran with fervor.

In the 29 years since the first Gulf War, we've built lasting relationships with civil servants. It's through this access that we serve as a bridge between communities and government to help protect American Muslims.

Here's how we've doubled down on our efforts as tensions with Iran have escalated:

1. Held DHS and CBP accountable:

We held a meeting with Department of Homeland Security and Customs and Border Protection officials to demand a review and report on the incidences that happened at the Washington-Canada border. We underscored the necessity to re-issue policy directives and procedures so that civil rights and liberties are never denied in the future. We brought several American Muslim and Iranian organizations with us to provide representation and amplify our voices.

2. United diverse American-Muslim organizations:

A war in the Middle East can easily lead to more sectarian divides and conflicts. To ensure that the diverse community of Muslims stand together, we convened several American Muslim organizations to oppose military action in Iran. These groups included the Shura Council of Southern California, the Shia Muslim Council, ILM Foundation, and the Islamic Center of Southern California. Our goal was to unify our voices so that our collective concerns were heard by our policy decision makers and the media.

3. Ensured our voices were heard in the media:

On January 8th we held a press conference with a group of Southern California community leaders belonging to various Muslim organizations. Together, we called for our Congress and policy makers to say #NoWarWithIran.

We will continue to bring American Muslim voices to the decision-making table. In these trying times especially, our voices are more crucial than ever to prevent our country from waging yet another meaningless war in the Middle East. Those who will be affected most by such a war will be the civilians in Iran and Iraq, who will (once again) be susceptible to the rise of extremist groups from the resulting power vacuum and sectarian strife, and American Muslims and Muslim-passing people of color here who will face a tidal wave of bigotry and hatred.

Our job at MPAC is to protect American Muslims and we will continue our efforts to ensure this. Your faith in and support of our work makes this possible.